Part II, saw Otep, then had time left to come see POSSESSOR and LICH KING in my hometown of ...Wheaton, MD

It was a fun show, the place was a restaurant, hosting this night of thrash, and it was pretty well attended (over 100 people I think). I saw Heavy Metal Chris there and I'm sure he got some great pics. I never have been to this place until last night, but they are hosting another show in April

Possessor's look certainly set my expectations pretty high with the singer's 80's hair (with bangs), road warrior esque garb, and Grim Reaper shirt, the guitarist's tall mohawk, Slayer songs at soundcheck, and piercing wails. They sounded like old school thrash, with kind of messy vocals with the aforementioned soaring wails over top of it. They also had several songs with 'metal' in the title, so you KNOW they are a true metal band and I'm going to dig it.

Lich King came on a little after midnight, and continued the hat/mask theme- one guy had a pink Shark Boy mask, and another had a skull mask (perhaps evoking the Lich King). The vocals sounded a bit echoy, but I think that is what the vocal effect they were going for. Their sound was a bit tig'hter than Possessor, and seemed more like controlled chaos. They had a more laid back and comic feel to them, especially with their song content (songs about sci fi/fantasy stuff like Game of Thrones, Robocop, and Predator) and between song banter ( 'That guy at the merch table who thought I was looking in the money box and didn't think I saw you lift that patch!') were rather amusing. The sound, I think because of the venue's speakers, was a bit muddy, but overall decent. The frontman seemed a bit annoyed at some points, and I don't know if it was cause people were tired and were slow at starting (and maintaining pits), or if it was part of his stage persona.

Possessor (10:54-11:43)

?

? (something with HELL in the title)

Taste the Blade

City Built With Skulls

Reaper of Death

Champions of Chaos

Metal Knights (Nasty Savage cover)

Make Them Eat Metal

Battle Cry

Metal Meltdown

Lich King (12:05- 12:45)

(Unknown Intro)

Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast

I used to go to shows at a place called Phantasmagoria in Wheaton when I was at grad school in DC. I imagine it's long gone. It was a mix of concert venue/bar/home brew supply with a really cool owner. I saw Dark Funeral and Usurper there in 1997 or 1998.

True story - one of the Dark Funeral dudes was in the restroom putting on his makeup, I mean corpse paint. Then he reaches over and pulls out some paper towels and stuffs them in his leather pants. No shit....

True story - one of the Dark Funeral dudes was in the restroom putting on his makeup, I mean corpse paint. Then he reaches over and pulls out some paper towels and stuffs them in his leather pants. No shit....